Pushing Buttons
by Pureblood-Slytherins
Summary: AU. Trapped in a lift. Do I have to say more? Thrawn x Leia.


**Pushing Buttons**

It was late and most corridors were already disserted. Strange how quiet and peaceful the building felt now that everybody was gone. Too bad it wasn't always like this...

Leia sat behind her desk at the Alderaanian office and looked down at her pile of work: datapads, files and ordinary papers. There was still so much to do. So many things to read to be prepared for tomorrow's discussion, but she was tired and hungry. With a heavy sigh, the Princess of Alderaan stood up, gathered a huge pile of documents in her arms and then made her way down to the nearest turbolift.

She pressed the turbolift-button once, twice, thrice... Typical, whenever you wanted to go home, time passed extremely slowly. She wasn't good at waiting. She had always been far too inpatient and if walking down the stairs would have been an option, she would have done it. She shifted from one foot to another... and the documents were getting heavier by the minute too.

With a ringing sound, the door finally opened. Thrawn. Grand Admiral Thrawn. The Emperor's favourite non-human. Of all the turbolifts in the Senate - why did he have to choose this one? Leia suppressed a sigh. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with another imperial loyalist today. She was too tired, too exhausted. But leaving was not an option. And it would only be for a minute anyway. That she could handle.

Leia forced a smile on her face and entered the turbolift.

"Grand Admiral, could you please press level 47 for me?" She asked, as there was simply no way she could reach the button with all the things she carried.

"You could do it yourself if you had used one of the trolleys." The Chiss said and then pressed the button for her.

Leia pressed her lips together to keep her sharp tongue in line. He was arrogant. Everything about him was arrogant. The way he looked and talked and his whole demeanour, like he thought he was better than the rest of them. She didn't like him and didn't have to. Leia looked down at the pile of documents in her arms and then back at the Chiss.

"Yes, I could have." she responded, her tone still a little more aggressive than anticipated. Her eyes traveled back to the light of the control-panel, following it down level by level and her foot began to tap nervously. She had to get out of here, soon - before she would strangle the man.

Then, without a warning, the lift shuddered and stopped completely. The lights flickered twice and then went out completely. They were stuck... stuck in the dark, somewhere between level 150 and 151 and there was nothing, except two glowing, red eyes looking right at her.

Damn...

Leia put her files and documents into one of the corners and activated her comlink.

"We are stuck."

"Thanks for stating the obvious." A calm voice replied.

There - the arrogant Chiss had done it again. Anyway, she had other problems now.

Leia lifted her comlink up and then held it against the turbolift's wall, but it was no use.

"No signal."

Then she used its light as a flashlight-substitute and studied the control panel. What the Sith was the right emergency number? Why wasn't here a single, red emergency button? Why?

"I do not think it is advisable to push random buttons." A dark voice remarked.

"I'm not pushing random buttons. I'm using different SOS codes, till one of them is working."

"Interesting."

"What?"

"Your belief in the existence of such a code. But it would fit to Human behaviour."

"Naturally it does! We always include emergency options because we care about each other."

"That is one way of looking at it." He said dryly.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Leia asked, without even trying to hide her annoyance anymore.

"No other species would install a device that is so obviously dangerous that it needs emergency codes. Your understanding of `care´ is therefore …. tainted."

Insufferable. This man was just insufferable!

Leia pushed another button.

Suddenly, the turbolift started to talk in different alien languages... and didn't stop.

"Oh no. Please stop." But it didn't, and went on and on…

"I hope it's not giving that message in all the languages of the Senate's representatives."

"A possibility you should have considered before pushing random buttons."

The red eyes came closer and then went down. He was checking the wall.

"Here." He said after a couple of seconds and opened another, hidden shelf. "The manual." He rose again and then skipped through the instructions.

"114 to stop the messages, 110 to get help."

Leia quickly pushed the buttons and was more than happy when the voices finally shut up.

"Great. How long till they'll get us out of here?"

He handed her the manual. "It does not say. But it's likely that we were the last people in the building. I guess it could take a while."

Leia almost ripped the manual from his hand. No, no, no! She had to get home - soon! She had work to do! She would not spend the whole night here! She quickly read through all the matching pages. He was right - nothing. No timeframe, nothing. Just great! So now the only thing they could do was wait and...

"What are you doing?" Leia asked, watching the Chiss control the walls and the air slots in the ceiling.

"I am trying to figure out whether our air supply is limited."

"Are you kidding me? Are you suggesting - we could SUFFOCATE here?!"

He lifted his hand to the air slots again and then shook his head.

"There are some turbolifts that close up completely once the energy is gone. But we are fine."

"Well, I hope that you are correct."

"I am." Leia tilted her head to the side and cocked an eyebrow at him in an annoyed fashion. Thank the Force it was dark.

"You are free to check the air slots yourself if you do not trust my judgment. There is cold air coming in." Leia lifted her hand, couldn't feel a thing, but decided that he was right.

She heard Thrawn sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. That might actually be a good idea. She slid down the wall opposite of him and then the silence suddenly felt far too ... silent. She wasn't good at this. As a politician, she was used to talking. But she also had no idea what they could talk about. Then she reached for one of the datapads. They provided their own light and like this, she could at least work a little.

Half an hour later her stomach was grumbling and her eyes were getting heavy and it was getting cold. Leia yawned. No, she couldn't read anymore. She looked around. This was getting scary. Why wasn't there a rescue team? It took too long.

"I'm a bit concerned." Leia said quietly. "Would you mind talking a little?"

"I am not good at small-talk, Senator. Besides, conversation has not worked for us so far."

He had a point there. They didn't really `click´.

"Well...I guess we could try again. I was..."

"Annoying?" He suggested.

"In a hurry!"

There was silence again.

"And I guess I wasn't particularly happy to see you in my turbolift."

"It is hardly `your´ turbolift, Princess." Thrawn said coldly. "But I understand what you want to say...It is hard to see eye to eye when you come from opposite sides of the political spectrum."

"Indeed."

Then she heard a sigh.

"Very well. I guess we could try... So, what do Humans usually do when they are stuck in a turbolift?"

Leia felt her cheeks blushing as hundreds and hundreds of trashy novels and holos came crushing into her mind. Surely he had no idea to what he had just turned their conversation. Or had he?... She wouldn't put it past him...He was a sly devil, that man. Maybe this had been a bad idea and it would be safer not to find out.

"This was a stupid idea...Just forget about it."

Yes, forget about it. But once the thought was there, it was hard to forget... Kissing in a turbolift...Sex in a turbolift. Thrawn was rather good-looking...

Had she totally lost her mind! A minute ago she had been totally annoyed by him and now... Hopefully, they would get out of here soon.

A perceived eternity later, Leia put her arms around herself, trying to get warm. She sat in a corner, rolled up like a ball, trying to keep as much warmth as she could from leaving her body. The environmental controls were obviously off too. She was freezing. Really freezing. She was sure her lips were blue by now. Why hadn't she taken a jacket with her? Her white senatorial dress was far too thin and it was getting colder by the minute. If they wouldn't get out of here soon she might freeze to death. Well maybe that was exaggerated but at the moment it felt like it.

"It's really cold." She said through trembling lips, and already expected him to say something insulting in return.

"For a human."

"You're ... not cold?" Leia asked, shaking all over.

"No. My species evolutionised on an ice planet, so that I am able to adjust my body temperature. Especially in cool environments."

He stood up and went over to her.

"What... what are you doing?" She asked when he sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms.

"Saving your life. You're close to hypothermia."

Under any other circumstance, she would have fought this, but she was too weak now and as soon as she touched him, she felt the warmth returning to her body. She literally pressed herself against him and he put his jacket around her from the other side, encircling her with warmth like blanket and then, very slowly, she felt the life returning to her still shaking body. She was so tired…

It took a while until Leia was warm enough to even consider the precarious position she was in. She looked up at him. Her eyes were heavy, but she was more used to the dark now. Had she fallen asleep? How long had she been here - in this position? She put her face back on his chest and inhaled his smell. It was very male and attractive in a crude sort of way. Leia felt a strange knot in her abdomen. The physical closeness surely had its effect on her...

"Welcome back, Princess."

"How long was I out?" She asked, still sleepy.

"About 20 minutes. You fell asleep when your body was out of danger, reaching its normal temperature again."

"Thank you." She whispered.

"You are welcome."

Leia bit her lower lip. "I would leave if I could, but my survival instinct is too strong."

He chuckled lightly and run with his hand over her back.

"Do not worry about it. This position has its advantages too."

Had he really just said that? Naturally, he had! To her surprise, Leia felt a smile forming on her face. Sly bastard... But not without a heart...

"I have a confession to make." Leia looked up at him.

"A confession?"

"Yes. I looked at your papers while you were asleep." She pushed away.

"What?! Those were confidential!"

"Calm down. The resettlement of the Gillunans is hardly confidential. However, your approach is wrong." Reluctantly the Princess returned to the Chiss' chest.

"Why? It's a very logical approach."

"And that is the reason why it will fail. I have studied the Gillunans. They are very emotional and their votes count twice...and we all know the Zeltrons." There was a small smile on his face.

He might have a point there.

"Still…you shouldn't have looked into my files though." Leia said stubbornly.

"There are a lot of things I should not do." He said and his dark, velvet voice suddenly had a magical effect on her. Without thinking of the consequences, Leia looked up at him. He moved closer and leaned down, until they were nose to nose, their lips only millimetres apart, his musky fragrance and scarlet eyes intoxicating her senses...

Suddenly, the lights went back on, hot air came through the air slots and the turbolift came back to life.

"Impeccable timing." The Chiss said, helped the Princess back up and put his jacket back on, right in time before the doors opened and they were greeted by a couple of engineers in orange overalls.

"Everything alright? Sorry, we couldn't get you out sooner. The computer went crazy."

"It is alright, Ensign. Thank you for your efforts."

Leia was still inside collecting her documents.

Once she was outside, Thrawn took half of them and walked with her towards the exit.

"Thanks for helping me with these. That's nice."

"No, it is not. I simply needed an excuse to follow you outside."

"And why is that?"

"I think we two should have dinner together." The Chiss said confidently.

"Do you?"

"Yes."

"Now?"

"Yes, now. What do you say?"

He was not a nice guy. He was presumptuous and absolutely inappropriate. But somehow... somehow she couldn't help falling for his devilish charm, and the worst part was that he knew it. Leia smiled and shook her head. The nerve of that man... What did it matter, she was happy that he had been in `her´ turbolift.

"Melahnese, please."

The END

**A/N:** For Aequia who gave me inspiration. As did all the other wonderful "Trapped in a lift" stories I ever read/saw.


End file.
